We are sick.

We have been invaded... by some virus. This was this weekend's progression.

Friday...

Here is my sweet boy who has discovered how fun it is to be outside by himself, dig in the garden, and swing on the swing. He has to do it himself, because I just can't pick him up at this point. He still has fun though.
Miss L pulled out the tea party table outside and set it up for her brother. She is so creative, and has an amazing imagination. It is fun to see her grow.

The cough started Friday, but we still had fun Saturday morning.... we got a kite of $1 at Walmart and had a very fun picnic at the park feeding the turtles and flying our kite.

This was Saturday afternoon though. The cold hit Miss L the strongest. Just a cough, nothing else.

Saturday Evening...dinner time...for a girl who doesn't take naps.

Sunday Morning, everyone was happy again. We tried to go to church, but my the end of sacrament meeting both children had runny noses and momma had a bad headache.

This is our current status. We gotta get through this cold before the baby comes...which is hopefully this week.

This Week...cancelled

Well this week has been interesting. I not only had the usual full schedule of teaching piano lessons, library day, playgroup, etc. But this week I also had a 2-year-checkup for Miss L, a doctor's appt. for me, a husband with finals, visiting teaching lunch scheduled, a song to practice for enrichment, a friend with a birthday lunch, and my M-O-L is coming on Saturday, so my house needs to be immaculate too. But....all that was canceled.

Miss L did way too much partying Sunday night and came down with a case of the stomach flu on Monday. She's never had this before, we've thrown up, but they were single episodes, not this. We thought it was food poisoning, because it was gone by Monday afternoon, but reemerged during enrichment Tuesday night with Gary at hand.

It is mostly terrible to have a little sicko, Wednesday morning she just curled up at 9:30am and wanted to lay in bed, poor little thing. We did a lot of hugging, about 20 loads of laundry (and I am not exaggerating) and because all of her toys were played with Sunday, I bleached them all, as well as her bed, the floors, my kitchen. My piano has been clorox wiped at least 35 times. I guess on the bright side, we've all lost weight (although she and Gary didn't need to lose any) and Gary and I did not get sick which is really a blessing. In addition, I got to cuddle with my little girl all week and make her feel better, which I actually liked, she is not much of a cuddler...unless she is sick, and my house is pretty clean (although at the moment not up to M-O-L standards (which my mother-in-law probably would not care, but I of course create unrealistic expectations for myself). And lastly, it was kinda of nice to have no commitments, I am quite ready for some now (I volunteered myself to play at our neighborhood home tours Saturday, because quite frankly I need to get out of the house).

Fortunately, Miss is L is over it although I have kept her off all dairy (How long are you supposed to monitor diet?) because I can't usually eat normal for a couple weeks following the flu. Poor Miss L is now starving and I don't know quite what to give her. She can not live on bananas, rice, saltines, apple juice, and gatorade. What she wants is cheese, I think that is no go for at least a week.

Today we are getting out of the house, and have about a million errands to run, food to buy, and a house to get spotless.

So two questions:
1) What to feed her?
2) Because I blame every sickness on the devil nursery at church, is it wrong to keep her away from those kids for another week? I don't want her sick again right before Christmas. This week was tough enough on that little body. (I also do not want her to eat the snack... I don't know what they feed them, but I can just picture dirty little hands sharing snacks with each other. We like to refer to it in home as "the den of contamination").

ps. I really like our nursery leaders, it is just the common uncleanliness of the age group and that fact that I am just am sick of her coming home from church weeks in a row with a cold and now this.

So I'm Back

After a month long Hiatus, I a back.

You may ask, why did I take a Hiatus? Well 3 reasons:

1) I was very involved a certain piano recital that took place last Saturday, which included lots of extra lessons (and my kids did great!!!!)
2) I went to see my sister in LA!!!
3) My family has been sick for A WHOLE MONTH!!!!

And this final reason is what really kept me away. Gary thinks we had this, but that sounds a little lethal. It started with Gary, and knocked him out for about a week, that is a week of no school! etc. I was so worried about L, so an over anxious trip to the doctor, showed nothing but a cough, but preventive antibiotics, just in case something hit while we were in LA. Then it hit me, the night before I left for LA, so unfortunately I was pretty sick the whole time I was there, luckily, my sister is the best sister in the world, and did a lot of pamper L and catering to my every food desire. Not to mention we still had a blast. Here are the highlights:

1) Trunk or Treat with L and A
2) Walking through beautiful Rose Bowl neighborhoods
3) Taking the train downtown
4) The zoo...
5) Elvira Street
6) Shabu-Shabu, a definate must in LA
7) WICKED!!!! And now I sing the entire CD by request. Only had one coughing attack during the performance, thank goodness.
8) The wonderful breakfast, lunch, and dinner fed to me everyday, and someone to watch L and paint her toenails while I took up to four naps.

And now back to real life, which isn't bad either, but LA was HEAVEN, even though I was sick.

So the last few weeks we have been recovering. L ended up getting a pretty substantial ear infection the day we got back(despite the fact she was on antibiotics), so she was pretty much out the next week with that (and we were out too because L can't sleep at night when she has ear infections...neither can I). And my energy still isn't back to par, but I can't complain, because I don't feel bad at least, and it gives me an excuse to go to bed early, which I'll take any day. So between L, my piano students, and keeping food on the table, and my house in some kind of order, I have been pooped.

But I'm back now...

Doggie have a Temp?

L is getting better. She made sure her dog did not also get sick. I found her doing this this morning. Love it that her pants are on backwards. Dad dressed her.

What a Week!

What a week it has been. To tell you the truth, I am glad it is over.

The week started with my brother-in-law and sol here with their family. It was a very fun visit, and if I had remembered to download all the pictures of her camera, you would see a weekend filled with 1) Huge alligators at the alligator park, 2) Kids playing at the big water park in our neighborhood, 3) a wonderful trip to the boardwalk at Kemah where I learned Lily is at the age where she hates restaurants. Here are a few...

Needless to say we had a wonderful weekend of fun stuff in Texas that we wouldn't have probably done without company here.

Monday night my sol and I had a deep discussion which lasted till the wee hours of the morning. I don't get these talks often because A) Gary is not much of a talker and B) my family lives too far away. Anyway it covered most aspects of culture, marriage, political concerns, and ethics. And I went to bed feeling very satisfied. Thanks Mo.

However, my body did not agree with the enjoyment I got out of this lengthy night. In truth I think we just had a cold coming and it decided to hit the day they left. For someone who usually goes to bed by 9:30, I think my body just decided to revolt. So I was out and when I say out I mean out for the next three days. Gary and I both got a terribly sick.

This was the work week....Lily wakes me up at 8....lay in front of the TV half asleep while Lily watches Sesame Street. Put her down for a morning nap. Go back to sleep and sleep until Lily who has been playing patiently in her crib for 45 minutes gets fed up and needs to get out. Poor Lily. But on the gratitude not, I didn't remember what it was like to have a fever. Now I can empathize with Lily next time she is sick.

I decided this week was a test of both my patience with my family and my capacity to get everything done I had to do this week. Needless to say both didn't fair so well.

But on a different note. As of Friday I started feeling much better (although I probably don't sound it) and I had a piano recital saturday....my first. My students did great!!! I could have improved the introduction, and no one really talked after the recital, which I am not the best at moving group conversations....but the students were very cute none the less, and very prepared.

Sunday brought my class teaching sharing time...I felt so good about the lesson Sunday morning. I have been thinking about it/working on it all week. This morning I felt so good about it. I felt like I really had my lesson planned exactly....but it BOMBED. Just so you know, the game of telephone does not work with 4-7 year old...neither does the game of memory. I ran out of time to play the last game. The only dispute I had was that I felt so good about my preparations this morning then to have it totally bomb. So I figured I was supposed to learn something out the experience. Even if it was only to pray for guidance.

So that was my week. How about you?